MP COLUMN: Gloria De Piero

10-0697-1'Gloria De Piero

Published:15:17Sunday 01 December 2013

A few weeks ago I met an amazing woman from Eastwood.

Her name is Cate and as well as being a mum, she works as a catering assistant at Nottingham University. Cate was at a meeting and was speaking passionately about the need for better paid jobs and about the fact that it’s time to move beyond a ‘minimum wage’ and bring about a ‘living wage’ because poverty is becoming a grinding reality for too many working families.

I know we can’t force all firms to pay a living wage but we can give employers a cash incentive so they’d pay a bit less tax if they paid their staff more. In the UK over five million people are paid less than the living wage of £7.45 an hour and in Eastwood one in four of you earn less than that. It’s not good enough.

The school run can often be a nightmare, whether that is for parents, the school or local residents and often there’s never an easy solution that suits all parties. The head teacher at Brookhill Leys Primary School mentioned to me that there’s an ongoing parking issue. She’s asked me to let you know that the school understands the concerns of residents and is working with parents to ensure there’s no inappropriate parking on Chewton Street. If anyone affected does have concerns then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me so I can pass it on.

This is my first column since staff at the D.H. Lawrence Heritage Centre were named ‘Team of the Year’ at Experience Nottinghamshire’s STARS awards the other week. I’m always amazed by the dedication, passion and knowledge of the people who work there and I’m delighted they have now been recognised with this honour. Quite simply the Birthplace Museum and the Heritage Centre are real gems of our town.

For D H Lawrence fans there was a documentary about his life on BBC 2 at 10:15pm last Saturday called ‘A Journey Without Shame – A Culture Show Special’ with parts were filmed at landmarks across Eastwood. If you’re quick you should still be able to catch it on BBC iPlayer.

Finally, I’m particularly keen to speak to women who are employed by employment agencies about your experiences, conditions and treatment, whether they are good, bad or indifferent. What I do know is that some of you will have a really important story to tell and I’d like to make sure you’re heard. If you email me I’ll call you back and you have my word that the conversation will be in total confidence.

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